Curtis and I spent two days here. Hiked numerous places, including Barker Dam and Cottonwood Springs Trails. Biked many of the dirt roads around the park. Bouldered in various places, including Jumbo Rocks Campsite. It was hot, especially our second day when we camped at Cottonwood: No shade except from a small tarp we brought.

I've made 6 trip to Joshua Tree, with another planned in November 2007. The first was with my brother in 2002 when I was just starting as a trad leader. Lots of great experiences there. Favorite routes include Overseer (5.9), Cakewalk (5.9), Dappled Mare (5.8), and Touch and Go (5.9). See my personal website for a complete list of J Tree routes that I've climbed plus some photos.

First time out climbing . . .ever! I climbed a few routes over the weekend. Got snowed on during the night, but had clear cold days to climb. Returned in February for more climbing. I"m sure I'll be back many times.

Headstone was a cool warmup. WotWS was an awesome face climb, however the route finding was a little tough cuz i was looking for the shine of the next bolt and went right on the top of the second pitch because i couldnt see the bolt to the left. I got on to a much harder climb with a nasty run-out use care!

I have only done scrambling ,hiking, and cross country hiking in J-Tree, oh yeah partying but nothing roped. I love this park, every direction you find something cool to do. Best time to hike though is at night with the moon up.

Had big plans for this trip, but ended up raining most of the trip. But because of the rain we met a very nice couple and ended up climbing with them that only one nice day. Did some bouldering before that and lots of hikes. Very nice time and can not wait to go back. Hopefully it will be a dryer winter…

In that one day we climbed: Double Dip on Echo rock, Eff Eight in Mounds area (near Echo rock), Solar Technology and Men with Cow's Heads on Atlantis Wall in Lost Horse Area

Sort of like walking slackjawed into a big book store and knowing there isn't enough time to read all these damn fine books. Life is way too short while being bigger than one lifetime. That seems to be the conundrum when a good day is had at Joshua Tree.

Spent nearly two weeks in J-Tree, was with a group of climbers who were more experienced and so I learned a lot about trad-climbing, anchor building and other climbing techniques. Did bouldering, sport and trad climbing. Got crowded as colleges let out and the park filled with climbers. Grotto was one of the more adventurous trips away from popular climbs around camp. First time to J-Tree, beautiful rock, limitless climbs, perfect weather.

My third trip to the Tree (in the year I've been climbing) and each one gets better. Climbed as a team of three with Damien and Kristina. As D said, I was spoiled with two belay bitches and never had to coil a single rope! Touch and Go (5.9 or so) was the highlight but all the climbing was great--except for Dogleg (5.8 my ass), which I didn't enjoy but D. aced.